* Another way [Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich] has been trying to hurt House Democratic chances this November is by claiming there’s a “secret” plan to raise income taxes after the election…
An after-Halloween trick could be up Mike Madigan’s sleeve. Governor Blagojevich is suggesting the speaker of the Illinois House is secretly pushing for an increase in the income tax, sales tax, or both after the November election.
There’s a gigantic difference now, however. Blagojevich didn’t spend millions of dollars attempting to burn that message in because he was preoccupied with his own reelection [duh - he wasn’t up that year] and nobody in the Democratic Party would give him that kind of money to do something like that.
Also, Madigan just wasn’t as well-known (or as widely disliked) back then as he is today.
Governor Bruce Rauner today announced appointments to the State Board of Health and Workforce Investment Board. In addition, Jennifer Hammer has been named Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, as Aaron Winters transitions out of the Administration. […]
Jennifer Walsh Hammer has been named Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy. Hammer brings years of experience in Illinois policy and private practice to the position. She is currently Special Counsel to the Governor and the Healthcare and Human Services Policy Adviser.
Previously, Hammer was the Executive Director of the Healthcare Council and Legal Counsel for the Illinois Chamber of Commerce. Hammer is also an attorney and has spent a significant amount time in private practice at Giffin, Winning, Cohen & Bodewes.
In addition, Hammer is a former two-term elected Governor on the Illinois State Bar Association Board of Governors. She was appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court to the Board of Character and Fitness. She is also a past President of the Central Illinois Women’s Bar Association and the Junior League of Springfield. She is the Second Vice President of the Sangamon County Bar Association and a board member of the City of Springfield Community Relations Commission.
Hammer earned her bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University and law degree from Southern Illinois University. She lives in Springfield.
* I truly love me some Aaron Winters and I’m really sorry to see him go. Aaron is one of those rare beings: a smart wonk with a pleasant personality. People always smile when he walks into a room, even when he’s bringing bad news.
Needless to say, his job hasn’t been easy. But as a good friend of mine said last year, “If anybody can get us a deal, Winters can.” Unfortunately, no deal was to be gotten. I don’t put that on him. At all.
I’m not sure what he’s doing next, but he’ll be good at it. Count on it.
Arrogant politicians are gambling that, come November, Illinois voters who usually vote for familiar names won’t rebel against incumbent legislators. But given how shabbily majority Democrats once again have treated the citizens who pay their salaries, we wonder if many of the incumbents risk being replaced.
Now the leaders are in scramble mode. They don’t want voters to focus on the odds that schools will or won’t open this fall. Rather than earn their salaries (and, yes, their eventual public pensions) by balancing a budget and pointing Illinois’ economy toward growth, incumbents are focused on the election. They want it over.
Don’t be surprised if they cut a half-year deal and boast for the cameras that they did something big. They’ll blame and spin and preen like peacemakers, then explain in great fogs of detail why this was the best they could do. Heroes, all.
A half-year budget is better than none, we suppose, but not by much. It creates no sense of stability for people who rely on state spending. It creates no incentive for tax-wary employers to locate or hire here. It creates nothing but more slack time for lawmakers to collect salaries, month after unproductive month — their many paid vacations included.
Hmm. No mention at all of who is pushing hardest for a temporary budget deal: Gov. Rauner.
* But, what if Speaker Madigan decides he isn’t for a temporary budget? Those two constituent newsletters put out by his members that we discussed earlier today could give us a clue about MJM’s intentions. For instance…
Not only are we working to stop devastating cuts to social and public services but the University of Illinois is also being targeted. The Governor’s budget proposal would provide the U of I just 30% of the funding it needs for the next 18 months to the institution that educates over half of all public higher education students in the state of Illinois.
Some of the governor’s people believe this 30 percent number refers to Rauner’s stopgap budget proposal. And, as subscribers know, Madigan has only said so far that he is willing to support a stopgap for this fiscal year, not the next one which starts July 1st.
*** UPDATE *** I kid you not, the Illinois Republican Party just e-mailed that Tribune editorial around to reporters and actually used the excerpt about the temporary budget that their own party leader is supporting. Check it out.
Through the entire 2016 cycle, the outside spending on [US Sen. Mark Kirk’s] behalf represents just a fraction of the total money spent on GOP incumbents, and significantly lags behind the amount spent to back his colleagues in tough races. And as groups strategize and lock in future spending, so far there appear to be no plans to put big money behind the Illinois lawmaker’s re-election campaign against Democratic Rep. Tammy Duckworth.
For some of these Republican groups, it’s a simple calculation: Illinois is a deeply blue state in presidential election years, and with so many other competitive races in battleground states, investing there may not be the best use of resources.
“It is an enormously difficult state to be a Republican running statewide in a presidential year,” said one party operative who works for an outside group and who requested anonymity to discuss strategy. “I think you could bring Abraham Lincoln back from the dead to try for the Senate seat and he would have trouble in 2016, or he would be a decided underdog in 2016.”
RCP says $1.1 million has been spent so far, split about down the middle, compared to $13 million in Ohio and $8 million in Pennsylvania.
Kirk’s campaign pushed back on the narrative there has been a lack of investment in his re-election. Eleni Demertzis, a spokeswoman for Kirk, said in a statement to RCP that Duckworth will be badly damaged by a trial in August at which she faces accusations of misconduct from her time leading the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs. Demertzis said if anyone would be expected to spend outside money in the race, it would be Democrats backing Duckworth ahead of the trial, and she suggested the lack of GOP outside money is because Kirk faces a flawed Democratic opponent.
They sure are putting an awful lot of hope into the outcome of that Duckworth trial.
A new poll commissioned by Sen. Mark Kirk’s campaign shows that a majority of Illinoisans think Rep. Tammy Duckworth should have to testify in an August trial related to a workplace retaliation lawsuit stemming from her time as Director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs.
According to the GS Strategy Group poll of 600 likely Illinois voters, 63 percent of respondents said Duckworth should have to testify “because she was a state employee as the head of the VA, and Illinois voters deserve to know the truth behind her actions.” 17 percent of respondents said it’s Duckworth’s “right to not have to testify in this trial.” […]
“Rod Blagojevich refused to take the stand in court,” Artl added. “Will Rep. Duckworth follow her former boss’s legal strategy?”
Strapped for cash as a result of Illinois’ year-long budget logjam, Champaign County’s mental and behavioral health agency Community Elements is being forced to make deep cuts in two programs serving homeless men and troubled youths.
The agency will close its Roundhouse residential facility for youth on June 10 and will shut down the remainder of the level 1 program at its TIMES Center for homeless men in transition on June 30, according to CEO Sheila Ferguson. […]
To help save money, Community Elements already cut level 1 at the TIMES Center in January from 50 beds to 25 and reduced staffing by 12 jobs, six of them full-time.
• Illinois ranks 28th among the 50 states and District of Columbia in per-capita state and local spending, according to 2012 data, the most recent available, compiled by the Tax Policy Center.
• Illinois ranks 38th in state-only per-capita spending, according to Fiscal Year 2014 data compiled by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
• Illinois ranks 28th in per-capita combined spending on education, health care, human services and public safety — the core services that make up 90 percent of state budgets — and 36th if you calculate that spending as a share of our gross domestic product, according to an analysis of fiscal year 2012 data by Chicago’s Center for Tax and Budget Accountability.
• Illinois ranks 45th in overall state spending as a share of GDP according to a analysis of 2014 data by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
• Illinois ranks 49th in Medicaid spending per enrollee in a 2011 Kaiser Family Foundation report.
• Illinois ranks 23rd in the state taxes collected as a percentage of personal income and 15th in state taxes collected per capita, according to 2014 data compiled by the Federation of Tax Administrators.
• Illinois has the second-lowest state income tax rate among the eight states that levy a flat tax, and top earners in 38 states pay more state income tax than top earners in Illinois, according to 2016 charts published by the Federation of Tax Administrators.
Now, there are some important things to remember here. One is that relatively low state spending on K-12 is a serious driver of local property tax hikes. Another is that total state and local taxation is about the highest in the country. And while we do spend much less on Medicaid per enrollee, that comes at the cost of providers refusing to take Medicaid patients.
But, hey, even the governor recognizes that we have a very real state revenue problem. He isn’t pushing deep spending cuts at the state level, despite what you may read elsewhere. He wants economic reforms tied mainly to big state tax hikes and a local property tax freeze.
After years of watching the failed policies of leading Democrats in this state, from disastrous financial mismanagement to inauthentic attempts at social justice policy, I stopped voting Democratic. I charged in the opposite direction. I have not looked back.
She most certainly did charge in the opposite direction. Props for full disclosure there.
* And she has a long list of indisputably valid, spot-on criticisms of her former party…
For those who still espouse the economic and social ideals of the left, consider the failure of Democratic leaders and lawmakers in Springfield to enact the change you believe in. The Democratic-supermajority General Assembly adjourned the spring legislative session once again without passing school funding reform. Without approving an elected school board for Chicago. Without advancing a graduated income tax. Without enforcing a higher minimum wage.
All true. She goes into more detail on each issue and she’s absolutely right. The party’s legislative leaders pay mere lip service to a whole host of progressive causes, but don’t actually get anything accomplished on them.
* While her criticisms are totally legit, the tell is in her closing argument…
If you tend to vote Democrat, do some soul-searching before November. Your party is failing you. It is failing all of us. Your leaders are playing you for fools.
Stop getting played.
There’s zero doubt that if you’re a progressive Democrat, you are getting played on lots of issues near and dear to your heart. But what are all those liberals supposed to do come November? Vote Republican? Hardly.
The answer instead is: “Stay home.” Pieces like these are designed to depress the other side’s base. Both sides regularly do it and we’ll see a whole lot more of it before election day, as we always do. The difference is this one is quite well-written.
* While the Radogno quote doesn’t really suggest compromise, I am told that a middle-ground figure could be reached on K-12 spending if people put their minds to it…
Rauner’s proposal included only $220 million more for schools statewide—a fraction of the $900 million figure that was in bills that separately passed the House and the Senate. Roughly half of that money would have gone to Chicago Public Schools, and CPS chief Forrest Claypool says he needs all of it to put toward an anticipated $1 billion deficit in the upcoming school year.
“We need this stability, and not this strategy of pitting region against region,” Claypool told me, referring to Rauner’s suggestion that Democrats just are trying to wire “a bailout” of CPS.
Insiders suggest to me that Rauner is prepared to raise his schools figure as part of a deal on an interim budget. “There’s a big difference” between what Democrats want and what Rauner currently is proposing, says Radogno, clearly suggesting that a bargain is doable.
The problem is all this GOP thundering about how they won’t back a CPS bailout. The governor is letting the Republicans (and himself) get way out over their skis on this issue.
The logical and humane choice here would be to split the difference, put an additional $500 million or so into K-12, including some help for Chicago, and call it a day.
Wartime footings are not conducive to logic and humanity, however.
The most pressing financial concern for CPS is a $676 million payment to the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund due on June 30.
CPS has no choice but to make that payment in full, whether Springfield rides to the rescue or not. […]
But after making that payment in full, CPS will have just $24 million left in the bank. That’s enough to cover just 1.5 days of payroll.
Because property tax revenues won’t start rolling in until early to mid-August, that means CPS would essentially be forced to operate “bone-dry” through the month of July.
And that’s probably just the position where the governor wants CPS.
All this murmuring by Democrats about how Rauner will cave on his Turnaround Agenda once stuff starts shutting down ignores the fact that he has put constant fiscal pressure on CPS since he took office. A shutdown would play right into his hands.
But Madigan’s side points to Rauner’s ever-tanking poll ratings as proof they can use him against Republican candidates, and they’ll toss in Trump wherever the presidential candidate is unpopular.
And while voters always say they want a balanced budget, they almost always recoil when told what that would actually entail. Details of the $7.5 billion in cuts that “the Trump/Rauner Republicans demanded” via the governor’s expected veto will make for some grisly campaign advertisements. The Senate Democrats did pretty much just that to the Republicans during the last presidential campaign cycle and picked up seats despite raising the income tax by 67 percent—which is a big reason why the governor has now twice refused to submit a truly balanced budget. Once the Republicans vote against overriding Rauner’s budget veto for the second year in a row, they’ll be on the record for huge cuts.
* So, if you want a probable preview of the fall campaign (perhaps without all the Urbana-friendly talk about revenues other than those on the rich), check out Democratic state Rep. Carol Ammons’ e-mail to constituents…
Dear Friend,
I know that you are frustrated and disheartened that we have passed another deadline without a state budget. I am too.
It is outrageous that Illinois has gone almost a full year without a state budget. Never before in our state’s history have we gone this long without a budget. We must take action to restore stability for those who rely on the state to meet our basic obligations.
For nearly a year, the governor has held the state hostage refusing to sign or even negotiate a state budget unless he gets his way on a special interest agenda that benefits big corporations and the wealthy at the expense of the middle class.
The governor has proposed closing the state’s $5 billion deficit exclusively through cuts to essential services for families, children, and the elderly. The governor’s budget would slash critical funding for basic services, including:
* life saving medical care for the elderly and persons with disabilities covered by Medicaid;
* critical health services for women, including life saving breast cancer screenings;
* services for developmentally disabled children;
* services for abused and neglected children;
* and mental health services for thousands of patients who otherwise turn to emergency rooms for care.
Nurses, doctors, hospitals, nursing homes, and patients strongly support our approach and oppose the governor’s extreme cuts-only budget which would hurt families, children, and the elderly while protecting the ultra rich.
Additionally, the governor’s budget would put public safety at risk as massive cuts to local government will force communities across the state to lay off police officers and firefighters, close stations, and cut back patrols.
Not only are we working to stop devastating cuts to social and public services but the University of Illinois is also being targeted. The Governor’s budget proposal would provide the U of I just 30% of the funding it needs for the next 18 months to the institution that educates over half of all public higher education students in the state of Illinois. The University contributes $14 billion to the state economy and employs 30,000 people statewide. The University needs stable and consistent funding and I will strongly defend against all attempts to erode the foundation of one of our most valuable state institutions.
I oppose the governor’s extreme, cuts-only approach.
I support balancing the budget while protecting essential services by balancing spending cuts with asking big corporations and the wealthy to pay their fair share. Specifically, closing corporate tax loopholes and increasing tax rates on households with income of over $1 million a year. In order to truly move Illinois to a better place financially, all revenue options have to be on the table. However, the Governor has refused to engage in that conversation until his turnaround agenda items are met. That is not the spirit of compromise that is needed to make progress on this impasse.
We understand the need to conclude our work as soon as possible, but I won’t turn my back on middle class families, I won’t be a partner in destroying the services they count on, and I won’t let our higher education system fail because of lack of funding. I’m prepared to be in the State Capitol for as long as necessary to finish our work and will continue to support measures that protect middle class families and the vulnerable.
Ads Target House Democrats for Their Loyalty to Mike Madigan and Their Votes for the Most Unbalanced Budget in IL History
Over the past few weeks, House Democrats made the decision to put their loyalty to Mike Madigan above the interests of the people of Illinois. Instead of working to balance the budget and reform state government, House Democrats rammed through the most unbalanced budget in Illinois history, a budget that had a $7.5 billion deficit and would require a $1,000 tax increase on Illinois families to balance.
The Southern Illinoisan’s Editorial Board put it best this morning when they called Representatives Brandon Phelps and John Bradley, “soldiers in service to Speaker Michael Madigan.”
The Southern writes, “Mike Madigan preserved the status quo again this year, and Brandon Phelps and John Bradley were again more than willing to assist.”
Today, the House Republican Organization launched TV ads in multiple media markets across the state, targeting vulnerable Democratic legislators who walked the plank and voted for Madigan’s reckless “budget.”
The ads call out Reps. John Bradley, Brandon Phelps, Andy Skoog, Dan Beiser, and Kate Cloonen for their unflinching loyalty to Mike Madigan.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Thursday lashed out at Gov. Bruce Rauner, comparing the Republican governor’s call for Downstate Democrats to stand up against the Chicago machine to Donald Trump’s “playbook of demonizing one group of people for his political advantage.”
Rauner responded to the attack during an afternoon appearance in Itasca, comparing Emanuel to Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis, who is known for her sharp retorts.
“I don’t know where all these goofy personal attacks come from,” Rauner said. “That’s not helpful. I’m starting to think Rahm is taking his speaking lessons from Karen or something. This is not helpful. We’ve got to focus on the facts and what’s constructive.” [Emphasis added.]
Well, yeah. So if focusing on what’s helpful and constructive is so important, then what has the governor been doing for the last three days? That Emanuel comment didn’t emerge from a vacuum.
* A massive corporate bailout funded by increased electricity rates for a hugely profitable company is absolutely needed to protect a handful of Downstate jobs. But don’t even mention giving Chicago’s schools a penny more than they received this fiscal year, because that would be horrible…
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner is “extremely upset” to hear Exelon’s decision to close its nuclear plants in the Quad-Cities and Clinton, Ill., he said during a visit Thursday to the East Moline Correctional Center.
The state’s Republican leader said he has been talking with Exelon officials for weeks and planned to continue conversations later in the day.
“I’m trying to work with Exelon to keep these plants open,” he said, pinning blame on Illinois Democrats’ unwillingness to act on “tough votes,” including a bill aimed at helping Exelon’s money-losing nuclear plants, until after the general election in November. “We need to protect those jobs.”
Rauner pushed Illinois lawmakers to find a compromise, stressing that he does not want the state to lose Exelon, a “good company” with “good-paying jobs.”
We’re talking hundreds of millions of dollars a year for 1500 jobs - and if those plants become profitable again the state wouldn’t be able to claw back the subsidies.
* Those are good jobs. Don’t get me wrong. And the jobs and taxes are hugely important to those two small towns.
But thousands of employees of human service providers throughout the state have been laid off and he won’t sign a fully-funded stopgap approp bill that’s been on his desk for weeks.
* And while we’re at it, after excoriating the House Democrats for passing a 500-page budget bill with only hours of debate, he had his GOP leaders introduce two appropriations bills on the last day of session that totaled 1,054 pages and demanded immediate floor votes.
Dude… Please.
Sorry, but every time this governor goes on one of his Rolling Thunder “I’m Not To Blame!” Pander-Bear tours he makes me cranky.
Governor Bruce Rauner told WAND News Wednesday that he believed in early May that a compromise on a new budget was nearly at hand.
That potential deal, or grand compromise, never materialized. Rauner blames it on Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan.
“I knew we were getting close because Speaker Madigan started to insert himself. Because he was concerned we were actually going to get a grand compromise and he doesn’t want that,” Rauner told WAND’s Doug Wolfe. “Members of the Republican caucus and the working groups came back and said wow, you could see the chain got pulled in on the Democrats and they’ve reversed, or taken things off the table, or changed their position and gone backwards.”
They did indeed seem to pull back during the last few days.
[Democratic state Sen. Dave Koehler], too, disagreed with the governor’s characterization of action in the working groups.
“I think we’ve made some real progress,” he said. “It doesn’t look like it, because always on the last day of session things get real crazy.”
But, he said, any agreement on a short-term deal should come out of those groups.
“That’s really what needs to happen. … The reality is that the only way we’re going to make progress is we have to do something in a bipartisan way,” he said.
However, he said that he’s comfortable working on a temporary budget with the likelihood of voting on reforms in Rauner’s “Turnaround Agenda” later in the year or after the new year dawns as part of a final deal — though he still wants negotiation on the terms of those items.
“No one involved in the process can just say ‘No, we’re not doing it,’” Koehler said. “You have to at least talk about something. Now, everybody gets real nervous out there, saying, ‘What are you doing?’ Well, allow them to have their conversation and to find out where you can have some meeting of the minds.”
Yes, the city needs to put some skin in the game. And, yes, the state has a very real responsibility for its largest school system. But the CTU has to do its part as well. And that pension pickup is a huge cost-driver for CPS. Huge.
*** UPDATE *** Greg Hinz…
Claypool, in a quick interview, reacted very negatively to the comments.
“I’m shocked that the CTU is surrendering to Rauner and letting him off the hook for the state’s responsibility to fund education,” Claypool said.
Thank you so much for Tuesday’s article calling violence “a huge public health crisis”—we at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago couldn’t agree more. And we echo your call for “an urgently coordinated response to this disaster.” That’s why we created Strengthening Chicago’s Youth (SCY) four years ago. Like you and your readers, we recognize that it is not just the Illinois Department of Public Health, local law enforcement or any one entity that can solve this complicated problem. This is why SCY supports and helps coordinate efforts among so many government and non-government organizations that are doing this work. This is a true public health approach.
We all have to do our part to prevent violence. SCY encourages everyone to take action to prevent violence through our Focus on Five, which calls for:
· Sustained investment in children and youth. Policymakers must make a commitment to fund programs and implement laws that will enable our young people to reach their full potential. Without strong, consistent support of programs that work, is it any wonder when our children fall farther behind?
· Equitable access to high quality mental health services. We know that violence often stems from generation after generation of being raised in traumatized families and communities. Groups like the Illinois ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) Response Collaborative and Lurie Children’s Center for Childhood Resilience are working to address the root causes of trauma in children and support those who have experienced adversity, ultimately helping to break the intergenerational cycle of violence. As many of these partners say, “Hurt people hurt people.” We need to ensure that resources are dedicated to allow every Illinois resident to get the mental health care they need.
· Common sense approaches to gun violence prevention. Research shows that there are gun violence prevention policies that can save lives, including anti-trafficking laws and enforcement measures and evidence-based approaches to keep guns from dangerous people. Let’s bring these policies—like Gun Dealer Licensing—to Illinois to help curb the scourge of illegal guns endangering our children.
· Juvenile justice system that reflects what we know about adolescent development. Adolescents’ brains are not fully developed, and policies should view a child’s involvement with the justice system as an opportunity for intervention to prevent further delinquent behavior. We commend the state for many important reforms that have been adopted over the last several years and hope for continuing improvements—such as adoption of robust wraparound approaches that meet all needs of at-risk youth.
· Sustained investment in strong communities. We know that the toll of violence falls disproportionately on low-income, minority communities and that community and economic development policies can help to rectify this situation. Whether it’s through investing in proven community-based programs like CeaseFire Illinois, improving relationships between police and residents or bringing jobs to the neighborhoods most affected by violence, Illinois is only as strong as the neighborhoods we live in.
SCY would be happy to work with any of your readers to figure out how they can do their part to strengthen and support our youth, families and communities.
Sincerely,
Rebecca Levin, MPH
Director, Strengthening Chicago’s Youth
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool, who banked the financial future of the troubled district on a now-failed legislative session, said Wednesday that “the fight’s not over” as he implored parents statewide to lobby the governor.
“We still need them to stay involved because we have another obstacle to overcome, and that’s Gov. Rauner. They should remind the governor of his pre-gubernatorial history as someone who supported education funding, equality and reform. And I’d like to see that governor come back,” Claypool said by telephone. “The strategy of trying to divide the state around the issue of education just isn’t going to work.”
* Which resulted in this memo…
June 2, 2016
Mr. Forrest Claypool, Chief Executive Officer
Chicago Public Schools
42 W. Madison St.
Chicago, IL 60602
Dear Mr. Claypool:
I know you share my concern that without a balanced state budget, many schools may have difficulty opening in the fall. As I’m sure you are aware, the General Assembly adjourned Tuesday without passing a balanced budget for fiscal year 2017.
Earlier this week, the Governor and Republican leaders introduced an education funding bill that increases total PK-12 education funding by more than $240 million and ensures no school district loses money. In this time of great uncertainty, will you support a fiscal year 2017 education funding bill that keeps CPS funded at the exact same level as fiscal year 2016, including keeping funding for the city’s block grant and after-school programming in place?
If your answer is yes, then you support the plan introduced by Governor Rauner and the Republican Leaders this week – and I would ask you to advocate for its immediate passage so that all schools in Illinois can open in the fall. If your answer is no, then you need to be honest and tell the people of Illinois that you are holding up school funding for the entire state so that Chicago will receive hundreds of millions more than it did last year – despite declining enrollment in Chicago Public Schools and a state in deep fiscal crisis.
Thank you for your prompt reply.
Sincerely,
Beth Purvis
Secretary of Education
I’ve asked CPS for a response.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Here’s the response, which is more of an insult than anything else…
June 2, 2016
Dear Secretary Purvis,
As the highest paid official in Gov. Rauner’s administration, I’m sure you are aware that Illinois is near dead last in education funding.
I’m also sure you are aware that the current education funding formula punishes students living in poverty. This double whammy is a brick on the back of Illinois’ middle class and working families.
We understand the governor wants to turnaround Illinois. We urge him to start with education. Bring Illinois out from the bottom of the barrel and stop the insanity of an education funding system that punishes the poor.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Claypool was hired at a $250,000 annual salary plus benefits, which would be more than Purvis. So one insult deserves another. From Gov. Rauner’s deputy chief of staff Richard Goldberg…
Forrest Claypool doesn’t like it when women make as much money as he does. What a wonderful role model for Chicago students.
Schools in Illinois, on average, could stay open for five months without state funding, a recent survey by the Illinois Association of School Administrators found.
The possibility of schools shuttering continued to linger after state lawmakers on Tuesday evening, in the final hours of the spring legislative session, failed to reach a deal on a K-12 education-spending bill. […]
Even though they could open, [Mike Chamness, IASA’s director of communications] emphasized the consequences would still be devastating.
“If you spend all your reserves to stay open for five months, those reserves would not be replenished and at that point in time you would have no safety net whatsoever,” he said.
Yep. That very same thing has already happened to social service providers and higher education institutions.
*** UPDATE *** From the IASA…
Rich,
I wanted to clarify that the survey we did at IASA was an informal survey in our magazine. While the 5 month average might or might not be truly be representative of the statewide situation, I wanted to make it clear that we have districts from one end of the spectrum of not being able to open to the other end of districts that can survive the whole year but then might have no safety net remaining. Obviously, the districts most dependent on state aid are impacted the most. The closer we get to August, the more troublesome the scenarios become, financially and logistically, for schools. We realize that the ongoing budget impasse has had real consequences and suffering for innocent people. We would hope that common sense will prevail and the 2.1 million children who attend public schools in Illinois would not be used as political bargaining chips by either side.
Thanks.
Michael Chamness
IASA Director of Communications
Turns out, this was just an online survey. Not exactly scientific.
Thursday marks [ousted Chicago legislative inspector general Faisal Khan’s] first official day as CEO of the nonprofit Project Six — named after The Secret Six group of Chicago businessmen who helped bring down Al Capone.
Khan won’t say who’s paying the bills at Project Six — which employs Khan, three full-time investigators and a communications director out of offices in the historic Monadnock Building — but he insists the organization has no political or ideological bent. Its only aim is to take on corruption, ethical lapses and misguided policy, wherever it occurs in city, county or state government, he said.
Nate Hamilton, the group’s spokesman, said the money folks are being kept secret so politicians don’t go after them.
“We protect the privacy of our donors to prevent anyone from being targeted, harassed or retaliated against by the system that we will be fighting to reform,” said Hamilton, a former spokesman for the Illinois Policy Institute, a “free market” think tank that Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner has donated more than $500,000 to over the years.
Project Six describes itself as an “independent, non-profit organization dedicated to investigating, exposing and ending government corruption in Chicago and across Illinois.”
It was initiated by and is affiliated with the libertarian-leaning think tank Illinois Policy Institute, an organization that has received more than $500,000 from Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. Project Six has a separate board of directors and will not disclose its list of funders.
The group’s spokesperson, Nathaniel Hamilton, a former Policy Institute spokesperson, denied any connection between Project Six and his old organization. This is despite the fact that the offices for Project Six were initially housed within the Policy Institute and job candidates were interviewed by members of the Policy Institute. An explicit connection between the two organizations could raise questions about whether or not investigations are politically motivated.
“We are a completely independent organization,” Hamilton said repeatedly on the phone.
Emphasis added.
For a self-described reform group to be telling what looks like a major whopper right off the bat doesn’t exactly inspire a whole lot of confidence.
Faisal Khan, Chicago’s $250-an-hour legislative inspector general, says he faces financial calamity.
He can’t afford to pay his taxes. He’s forced to maintain two homes because his pregnant wife lives out of state and can’t fly. And on top of that, he has massive travel expenses from shuttling back and forth weekly, Khan, a part-time contract employee, said in a Feb. 3 court filing.
So who’s to blame? According to Khan, the city, which he says owes him $75,325 in back pay. […]
But while Khan pleads poverty, records show he collected $228,707 in city payments in 2014 — well exceeding his former $202,000 a year salary cap.
The records also indicate that since 2012, more than 60 percent of his office budget has gone straight into his pocket. That leaves him with limited resources to conduct investigations and pay his employees.
A suburban Democrat has asked Illinois’ top auditor to take a leave of absence following his acknowledgment that federal investigators have questioned him about campaign expenses.
With a letter sent Wednesday, state Sen. Laura Murphy of Des Plaines becomes the highest-profile Democratic official to take Illinois Auditor General Frank Mautino to task for campaign expenses that have drawn increased scrutiny in recent months.
Among the expenses is more than $200,000 in about a dozen years at a single service station in his former legislative district.
“I believe a leave of absence would be in the best interest of state government and the taxpayers of Illinois,” Murphy writes in a letter. “Once the probe is complete and only after the cloud over your office has lifted would it be appropriate for you to return to work as auditor general.”
So, since she’s doing this, might we expect more Dems to jump on the “good government is good politics” bandwagon as it relates to Mautino?
And, what’s your opinion about a leave of absence?
We are 11 months – eleven months – into this fiscal year and Illinois is no closer to having a FY16 budget than it was on July 1, 2015. Furthermore, we are one month from the deadline for an FY17 budget that is nowhere in sight either.
The latest round of negotiations between the Governor and legislators culminated Tuesday night in yet another failure. No budget—stopgap or full-year—was passed.
Instead of setting aside differences and agendas to pass a budget that adequately funds the services and programs that children and working families depend on, everyone involved has left these critical services in a continued state of uncertainty and unpredictably. Again.
The failure to reach an agreement on a responsible budget that includes sustainable revenue means that child care centers serving the children of tens of thousands of low-income, working parents will once again stop receiving funding. Home visiting programs reaching thousands of expectant parents, infants and toddlers will remain unfunded for a second year, with many programs unable to continue operating.
The lack of any appropriation for children birth to age 5 in our state’s Preschool for All program and K-12 system means schools will not have any funding for the fall unless something changes. The foundation of higher education will continue to crumble, leaving thousands of university and community college students without MAP grants and impacting the early childhood education future workforce. Teen REACH, homeless prevention, and domestic violence services will all go without funding again. The list goes on.
Prolonging the fiscal impasse will only deepen and extend the pain to children, families and communities - and the domino effect on the state’s economy will be felt for years to come. We have seen vulnerable children and families bear the brunt of our state’s budget problems before, but never at a time when the service-delivery infrastructure is already incredibly fragile and on the very edge of collapse. Many social services providers in Illinois have not been paid since July 1, but have continued to provide services in good faith. There is a bill before Governor Rauner that would provide emergency stopgap funds to help keep these providers afloat while we await a complete budget, and we urge him to sign SB2038 immediately.
We elect our leaders to represent the interests and needs of all residents of Illinois. We do not elect them to wait for the next primary…the next election…the next school year…
By failing to pass a budget for FY16 and FY17, our elected leaders have shown a lack of political courage while children and families pay the price. Legislators have indicated that they will work through June to find a compromise. We call on the governor and General Assembly, regardless of political affiliation, to live up to their commitment and responsibilities and immediately pass a budget that adequately reflects and fully funds our state’s needs and long-held priorities.
Looks like Exelon’s Quad Cities nuclear plant is a goner come September.
Chris Crane, CEO of the Chicago-based utility giant, which also is the largest nuclear plant operator in the country, made clear on a conference call with analysts today that he doesn’t see a way to keep money-losing Quad Cities open in the absence of a state law to charge ratepayers throughout Illinois more to bolster revenues at Exelon’s nukes. Exelon says that three of its six Illinois plants are losing money as wholesale power prices remain historically low due in large part to the low cost of natural gas.
Exelon has established September as the time it must decide the future of Quad Cities, and an anticipated revenue windfall for Exelon’s nukes courtesy of a regional power-plant auction set for next month almost certainly won’t be enough, Crane said.
September came and went and all the nuke plants stayed open.
Exelon said Thursday it will move ahead with plans to shutter the Clinton and Quad Cities nuclear plants, blaming the lack of progress on Illinois energy legislation.
The company, the parent of Chicago-area utilities provider ComEd, said the Clinton Power Station will close June 1, 2017, and the Quad Cities Generating Station in Cordova will close June 1, 2018. Both plants, the company said, have lost a combined $800 million in the past seven years, despite being “two of the best-performing plants,” the company said in a statement.
The move comes after the Illinois General Assembly adjourned earlier this week without acting on the legislation known as the Next Generation Energy Plan, which Exelon said would have helped save the nuclear plants.
* As Steve Daniels notes, there was some significant progress with Exelon’s legislation in late May, but more work has to be done…
Complicating matters is that the disagreements between Exelon and the greens aren’t the only conflicts holding back legislation. The coal industry, and power generators who rely on coal, also want ratepayer-financed help, which has run into opposition from downstate electric utility Ameren.
And much of the solar industry continues to oppose other electricity rate-design portions of Exelon’s bill that they contend would kill the residential rooftop solar business in Illinois before it even really gets started.
But with the dramatic concessions to the wind industry, Exelon has made clear its willingness to wheel and deal in order to save its nukes. May 31 has come and gone, but wide-ranging and far-reaching energy legislation in Illinois remains very much in play.
Thursday, Jun 2, 2016 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Paying it forward and giving back, and expecting nothing but happiness - that is the ultimate gift. Rock Valley Credit Union went above and beyond just providing “normal financial service” to a member on Saturday, May 28th when they surprised Denise Krienke, a long-time member who is going through cancer treatment with a visit from Guardians of the Ribbon PINK HEALS Winnebago County.
Financial Service Provider Andy Poffinbarger had been helping Denise with options for helping her pay medical bills, have money to live on, avoid overdrawing her checking account and to stay afloat. During his interactions with Denise, he learned of her journey and the struggles she was facing and wanted to help. Knowing of the partnership Rock Valley has with PINK HEALS, the credit union reached out to the local non-profit organization and explained Denise’s story.
PINK HEALS didn’t hesitate. Andy worked with Denise’s family to have her at the credit union following the annual Memorial Day Parade, and as soon as the sirens sounded, the procession of fire trucks, motorcycles, Pink Heals’ signature Pink police car and fire truck appeared, tears rolled down Denise’s face. She was shocked that a credit union would care enough to do something for her. Over 50 volunteers from Pink Heals, 15 Rock Valley Credit Union employees and many family and friends stood in line to give Denise a hug of support and encouragement. She was presented with gift cards to gas stations and a grocery store to help relieve some of the burden.
Taking time to get to know our members, their personal stories, and helping as best as we can - that is the credit union difference. Rock Valley Credit Union made an impact in Denise’s life beyond helping her financially. Credit unions are proud to fulfill our mission of giving back to our members and the communities we serve.
Today Alderman Howard B. Brookins Jr., Chairman of the Committee on Education and Child Development of the Chicago City Council, blasted Governor Bruce Rauner for racially tinged attacks on Chicago’s public schools.
It was reported in the media that Rauner said the following, “‘The Senate and the House were competing with each other – who can spend more to bail out Chicago with your tax dollars from southern Illinois and central Illinois and Moline and Rockford and Danville, the communities of this state who are hardworking families who pay the taxes,’ [emphasis added] Rauner said. ‘The taxes should go into our communities, not into the Chicago political machine. That’s where Speaker Madigan and his allies want the money to go.’”
Brookins responded:
“I’m appalled that Governor Rauner would say that Chicago families are not hardworking and don’t contribute to the tax base of Illinois. In fact, we pay a larger percentage of our incomes in taxes than the Governor or his billionaire friends, who he continues to protect from paying their fair share while ordinary people suffer,” said Brookins.
“Perhaps Governor Rauner believes there’s something about the 84% of Chicago Public School students who are African American and Hispanic that makes them undeserving of the full funding provided to other communities in Illinois,” Brookins continued. “Or, perhaps he is trying to stoke racial resentment with these divisive and misleading attacks.
“There is no so-called ‘bailout’ of the school system being proposed. Chicago taxpayers provide 20 percent of the income tax money that funds public education in our state, our children make up 20% of the state’s enrollment, yet our students receive only 15 percent of the state’s spending on education.
“These inflammatory comments are designed to conceal the budget mess Rauner purposefully created in an attempt to break institutions like organized labor and social service providers that are a lifeblood to middle class families in Illinois.
“In our state’s nearly 200-year history, Illinois has never experienced such a tumultuous period where it couldn’t even pass a budget. That is Governor Rauner’s failure, and one he has repeatedly tried to cover up with ridiculous attempts at misleading the public. The hardworking, taxpayers of Chicago will not stand for his reckless rhetoric any longer,” Brookins concluded.
“Yesterday people across the state were looking for solutions,” Emanuel’s statement reads. “Instead of uniting the governor was dividing. Instead of leading he was playing politics, pitting parents and students in one part of the state against parents and students in another. Right now schools across Illinois need a leader, and instead Bruce Rauner is following the Donald Trump playbook of demonizing one group of people for his political advantage.”
* As did the mayor’s CPS honcho…
Very disappointed that Gov. Rauner is pitting IL regions against each other. He was elected to lead all IL + we all need #fairschoolfunding
* Vienna, by the way, has a population of just 1,434 people…
“The Senate and the House were competing with each other over who can spend more to bail out Chicago with your taxes,” Rauner said during an appearance in Vienna. “The money shouldn’t go there, it should go here.”
The two chambers were, indeed, competing with each other the other night. No argument there. But Chicagoans, unlike the residents of Vienna and everywhere else in this state, directly make the vast majority of their own school pension payments.
In a campaign-style speech, Rauner took aim at House Speaker Michael Madigan; Senate President John Cullerton; and state Sen. John Sullivan, D-Rushville, who is assistant majority leader of the Senate. […]
A handout sheet passed along by Rauner’s office said Sullivan has gotten $1.75 million during his political career from Madigan, Cullerton and the “Chicago machine,” but it failed to specify whether they were campaign funds. The handout also was written in a way that made a leadership stipend — which Sullivan and all leaders in both parties receive — look like it came from Madigan and Cullerton.
“We need you to call Sen. Sullivan and have him stand up” to the Chicago political machine, Rauner said.
When reminded that Sullivan did not vote for a Senate education bill that would have boosted funding for Chicago Public Schools by nearly $1 billion, Rauner said that more was needed. He suggested that Sullivan demand a vote on an education bill and a social services stopgap bill crafted by the governor’s office.
I asked the reporter about his “Rauner said that more was needed” line because I didn’t quite get it. “Rauner wanted more from Sullivan, as in his support for the governor’s two budget plans,” was his explanation.
* So, are they really saying that the Chicago schools will receive no more money? Because, frankly, I don’t see how the heck they intend to get anything at all done if that is the case…
Republican Senator Jason Barickman of Bloomington is on the tour with Rauner. He says House Speaker Michael Madigan’s budget plan would “bail out” the city of Chicago and its school district.
“Us downstaters need to stick together… so that we don’t enable Mike Madigan to bail out Chicago.”
The post-May 31 magic numbers are now 71 and 36. Those can’t be reached if CPS isn’t part of the mix. Period.
* And yet as far as I know he did zippo during the session to pass a bill…
Gov. Rauner calls upcoming closing of @ExelonNuclear plants in Cordova and Clinton a "travesty." Hear more from @GovRauner on @wqad at 11
